UNSHEATHED

Chapter Thirteen

It was a long night. Elena first requested her guard to fetch a sword from her room to show the Prince. With the Prince's own guard here, it was safe to leave.

He brought back a long, elegant curved sword sheathed in a scabbard both made in the hilliri style.

The Prince looked puzzled.

Elena unsheathed the weapon, leaving the guard unsure of the danger and what to do about it. The Prince dismissed his concern with a wave of his hand.

She handed the blade to him, hilt first. He examined it for a moment and looked up at her in confusion.

"I made this blade myself," the Prince said, "many years ago!" He shook his head in confusion. "When I was very young, when my father was still alive, I apprenticed to a blacksmith. This was the last thing I made before my father died." He slid the sheath back over the blade and returned it to Elena.

"I gave it to the first Emperor, Eradon, after we signed the treaty. I thought if I gave him a weapon I had made with my own hands, he would not use it to harm me. But, how did it come to be in your possession?"

"Eradon gave it to me," Elena said. "He was my father." She held her breath for a moment. This was the beginning of where it got complicated.

"How is that possible? He died forty years ago!" The Prince looked baffled.

"He gave it to me on my graduation, at the age of seventeen."

It was definitely complicated.

"But...you can't possibly be sixty five years old!" He jumped up from his bench.

Elena stood and looked him in the eye.

"Please remember that I asked you to wait to pass judgement until I have finished," she said.

He raised both hands, fingers spread, shook his head and sat down again.

"I never knew my mother," Elena continued. "She brought me to the citadel when I was weaned and left me with my father. Later he told me that my mother had been his mistress after his wife had died, but I never learned any more than this."

Even now, long after, Elena felt the sting of abandonment. There were things she needed to know that only her mother could tell her.

"At first nothing seemed unusual, but once I was full-grown, I never seemed to change while others got older."

"Could your mother have been hilliri?" he asked, an obvious line of thinking, especially for him.

"I thought so for a while, and when I had to leave, it seemed natural to go to Kalad and seek out an answer for this. But I went to the Marulan at the College in Kalad, and they examined me. They had no answers, though, only that they were certain that my mother did not belong to the hilliri race."

"At first people didn't notice that I wasn't changing with age, but after many years passed, I couldn't pass for a remarkably well-preserved woman any longer. It became uncanny, and that was when the rumours of sorcery started."

"Toward the end of my time in Estallium, after spending many years training new soldiers, I was sent on a dangerous errand to discover what Lord Argentia was planning. I went disguised as a relative of the Emperor who was looking for a husband. I was supposed to catch his interest and get him to tell me his plans."

"I was betrayed and when the lord discovered that I was a spy, we fought. But I was surprisingly outmatched, even though he was an old man. I'll never forget how wild and crazed he looked as he slashed at me. I thought he would kill me in his terrible rage, but someone distracted him.""

"I never found out who rescued me."

The Prince considered her story. She wondered what he would conclude.

"If you aren't convinced that my story is true, I am willing to submit again to a hand-swearing by anyone of your choosing."

The Prince looked disturbed at the suggestion.

"That isn't necessary, Captain."

Elena studied the Prince. What a contradiction he was!

"Allow me to explain. I believe your story."

"Why?" asked Elena, surprised at this turn in attitude.

"I recall that I sent Joran to Estallium on his first ambassadorial duty for Emperor Eradon' funeral. I will check with him on some details, but the rest of your story is so preposterous that I doubt there could be a good reason to invent it. As for the security plans,"" he stopped to grin at her. "We start tomorrow."

Elena could hardly believe her fortune.

He stood and bowed slightly to her. Thinking more, he turned back to Elena.

"Oh, and Captain, I can't very well have an Imperial Princess staying in servants' rooms. You'll have to move upstairs. Goodnight."

He walked purposefully out the main entrance to the library, leaving Elena to her thoughts.

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I hope you enjoyed this instalment of Unsheathed. If you did, please consider voting so that it has a chance to receive some more attention by rising up the ranks in the Fantasy category. I also enjoy comments, so please feel free to let me know what you thought.

Cheers!

Rebecca